Out of the mouths of Babes
by Lovely Black Butterfly
Summary: This story was plucked out of the Facebook group Twi-fic Plot Bunny Farm, and dedicated to my mom, Betty Royalston-Scott. The prompt was from a GMA segment where a little girl put her preschool classmate in a headlock because he proposed to her. Thought it would be fun. I'm changing the rating to T. Starts JasxBel but ultimately EmxBel
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: Twilight and its inclusive material are copywritten to their original creators. Original creations, including but not limited to plot and characters, are copyrighted to the respective authors of each story. No copyright infringement is intended.**

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To say I wasn't surprised when I received a call from Miss. Esme is an understatement. I knew it was too soon.

"Mrs. Whitlock we have a situation with little Jasper that requires your immediate attention. Do you think you could come to the preschool as soon as possible? We can't seem to settle Jasper down," Miss Esme said over the phone. _FUCK! I swore under my breath._

"Yes, Miss Esme, I'll be there as soon as I can. Have you tried giving him the Melatonin?" I said as I gathered my coat and purse.

"No, Mrs. Whitlock. I'm not sure…" she paused. "We'll try and see if that works, but I think you should still come." She finished exasperatedly.

"Of course, of course. I'm on my way," I said before hanging up the phone. _FUCK YOU PETER WHITLOCK! _ I cursed my brother-in-law all the way to my bosses office. I had already used every and all FMLA, vacation, personal time and bereavement time off since my husband Jasper Sr. was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer before he finally succumbed to the disease. Thank God, the State of Washington is one of the few states that have a leave known as sick-child leave. So I needn't feel bad when I had to take time off from work because my son had a panic attack, seeing how I had just recently returned to work.

While my brother-in-law, Peter and his wife Charlotte were a big help, they too had to get back to their own lives. They wanted me and little Jazz to move back to Texas with them, but I felt like I needed to keep little Jazz's life as routine as possible. He loved Miss Esme's preschool, and I didn't want to take him away from his Grandpa Charlie and Gammy Sue. If truth be told, I really didn't want to go through the hassle of relocating to another state, finding a new job and all that entailed. I was comfortable here in Washington where I mostly grew up.

There were the years between the ages of seven and seventeen when I live with my flighty mom Renee in Arizona after she and my dad divorced. Then when she finally remarried, I moved back in with my Dad to give her and her new husband some space.

While in high school, was when I met my future husband, Jasper. He was my knight in shining armor. A couple of friends and I were in Port Angeles shopping for dresses for an upcoming school dance. Let's just say Angela and Jessica were shopping for dresses, I was just bored out of my skull when I decided to part from them and go to a local bookstore.

As I was making my way back to meet them for dinner, I got lost and took a wrong turn and ended up somewhere I had no idea where I was. As I tried to turn down a street that ended up being a dead end into an alley, I came across some men getting drunk and smoking weed.

"Well, well, looky, looky, Joey," one of the men said as he licked his lips while he looked at me.

"Um, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," I said as I tried to back up the way I came. But suddenly my feet got tangled up, and I was soon hitting the ground. _Brilliant, Bella! You can't walk in a straight line without falling, now you're trying to walk backward? _ The three men started laughing.

"Look at that, she's already getting into position for us," one of them said as he was on top of me faster than I could think. I started screaming, kicking and fighting before the man's hand came across my face.

"Shut the fuck up, bitch," the man said. I just closed my eyes and waited for the inevitable. However, the next thing I heard was a fist colliding against skin.

"Whit! What the fuck man, I was just having a little fun!" the man said as he cowered under the other man's punches.

"FUN? _FUN?_ Yah call that fun? Where I come from, tryna rape a woman ain't fun. I knew hanging out with you idiots was a mistake. So much for tryna fit in with you northern fucks!" I'd heard enough. I gathered up my shit and was about to hightail it out of there when a hand caught my arm. I was about to round on him with a fist to the face, when I recognized it was the man that came to my rescue.

"Whoa there, Darlin'. I didn't mean to scare yah. I'm very sorry for what that jackass tried to do to yah, but yah really shouldn't be wandering around these streets in the dark like that. I take it you're lost. Can I help yah find yah way back to where yah need to be?" Granted I was still scared, but something about that southern drawl was drawing me in.

"I—I—I don't know you either. How do I know you're not trying to get me away from them for yourself?" I could tell immediately I'd hurt his feelings.

"Because beautiful, my Mama,God rest her soul, would whoop my hide for treatin' a lady like that. Truth be told, my older brother, Peter, is gonna beat my ass for even hangin' out smokin' and drinkin' with the likes of them. So please, darlin', at least let me do somethin' to make the ass-whoopin' worth it." I smiled as he said that and nodded. And that was how I met my now late husband, Jasper Whitlock.

Now standing in the doorway of the office of my boss, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, I waited until he was off the phone.

"Yes, Esme. I understand. She's on her way," he said as he shooed me away from his door. Apparently, Miss Esme already called her husband to apprise him of the situation. I didn't stop to question, I just turned around and hauled ass out of the office.

Dr. Cullen and Miss Esme had been great through this whole ordeal. Miss Esme held our spot in her preschool when there were days after Jasper passed I couldn't seem to get out of bed, let alone get little Jazz dressed for school. There were days little Jazz would wake up in cold sweats screaming for his daddy. When I didn't know what to do for him, Dr. Cullen suggested giving him a more natural remedy to help him sleep, Melatonin. We both felt he was just too young for anti-depressants. After all, he was only four.

As I rushed over to Miss Esme's; yes everyone called her Miss Esme because all the kids called her that; I was still cursing Peter because I was beginning to think maybe he was right. Perhaps I should have just moved to Texas with them. After all, Jasper only stayed in Washington because of me.

That fateful night, Jasper walked me back to where I was supposed to meet Jessica and Angela at Bella Italia. We finally introduced ourselves. Jasper told me he was a student at the University of Washington studying psychology. He had gotten bored, and when some guys in his dorm invited him out, he reluctantly accepted, even if he didn't really know them that well.

"Miss Isabella, would yah allow me to buy yah dinner to at least make up for what they tried to do to yah?" He certainly was the southern gentleman.

"I think I'd like that Mr. Whitlock, but please, just Bella," I said as my cheeks flushed.

"Oh, but Isabella is such a beautiful name, why in tarnation would yah want to shorten it," he said. The way he made it roll off his tongue was like nothing I'd ever heard before.

"But if Bella is…" I cut him off quickly.

"No, I kinda like the way you say, Isabella," I said with a shy smile. He gave me his own crooked smile, and my heart soared. We finally made it to Bella Italia and were walking up the walkway when Angela and Jessica were walking out.

"OH MY GOD, _BELLA!_ We tried to wait for you, but we didn't know where you went," Angela said with legitimate concern. Jessica was too busy making goo-goo eyes at the man that had my arm tightly intertwined in his.

"Who's your friend?" Jessica asked, still keeping her eyes on Jasper.

"Jasper Whitlock, Ma'am. It seems Miss Isabella found herself in a bit of a pickle. So if you don't mind, I'd like to take her in, get her hands cleaned up and make sure she gets some supper. I promise to make sure she gets home safe and sound.

"Are you sure, Bella?" Angela asked, again I could tell her deep concern for my wellbeing.

"Yeah, maybe we should stay and make sure you don't get yourself into any more pickles," Jessica said with a god-awful imitation of a southern drawl, while never taking her eyes off Jasper. I dramatically rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure. Besides, you know you should be headed home. You know Mike may have a coronary if you aren't home when he calls," I said to her exasperatedly.

"Mike who?" Jessica said. Thankfully, Angela elbowed her in the side to break her out of her Jasper induced stupor.

"Mike Newton. Your _boyfriend?" _Angela said.

"Oh, yeah. Well, it was certainly nice meeting you, Jasper Whitlock. I hope we will see you around again soon," Jessica said flirting with Jasper, oh too obviously. Angela had to practically drag her away to the car.

"Your friends are quite…interesting," Jasper said after they left.

"Yeah, well. Like your's Jessica isn't exactly a friend. We go to school together. They wanted to come shopping for dresses for the school dance. I just tagged along so I could go to the bookstore," I said as I picked up the arm my bookstore purchase dangled from.

"Oh, Miss Isabella. May I ask, how old are you? Am I in jailbait territory here?" Jasper asked, now in alarm.

"No, Mr. Whitlock. I assure you I'm perfectly legal. I turned eighteen in September," Jasper let out a rough breath he'd been holding.

"Thank God! Isabella, you have no idea how much trouble I am in already. I came out with those idiots because they said they knew a place that sold beer to minors. I'm only nineteen. When I said my brother is going to kick my ass when he finds out, I ain't lying."

We then went inside the restaurant and had dinner. He immediately asked the hostess for some ice water and napkins. After wetting the paper towels in the ice water, he cleaned up the scrapes that were on the heels of my hand from where I fell. It was then I noticed, his knuckles were swollen from where he'd punched that guy that tried to attack me. After tending to each other's injuries, we had dinner and talked.

I told Jasper almost everything about myself. He told me how his father was killed in the first Gulf War when he was just a baby, and it was just his mom, his older brother, Peter who was twelve at the time and him. When his mom died of a rare form of brain cancer seven years later, his brother took custody of him. He told me how his brother had to drop out of college to take care of him. I could tell he really looked up to his big brother. He told me how Peter worked two and sometimes three jobs to make sure they had a good life. How Peter wanted to make sure he got a good education since that was something their mom and dad had instilled in him.

He told me since he'd never been outside of the State of Texas, he got accepted and was offered a partial scholarship at the University of Washington, he jumped at the chance.

After dinner, he drove me home and asked if it were possible for him to take me out again the following weekend. Of course, I said yes.

After that weekend, aside from school, we were inseparable. He, of course, took me to the school dance and prom. After graduation, I too, enrolled in U-dub, since I really didn't want to be far away from my dad, Charlie.

Jasper finally got his degree in Psychology and was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, while still going to school for his doctorate in Psychiatry. When I graduated, I had a nursing degree. Two months after I graduated, Jasper and I were married. Six months later, I found out I was pregnant with Little Jazz. Jasper wanted to move back to Texas to be near his brother and his wife. I, on the other hand, wanted to stay in Washington. I wanted Little Jazz to be near his grandfather and Charlie's new wife Sue.

Another year into our marriage, Jasper began having headaches. Peter became concerned, saying their mom suffered from the same debilitating headaches. Our worse nightmare was confirmed, that Jasper had the same rare form of cancer as their mom.

Every time we thought he was in remission, the cancer would come back with a vengeance. It took a lot out of all of us, my dad, Peter, Charlotte and especially Little Jazz. He had been through so much at such a young age. He loved his dad so much. Not only was he the spitting image of Jasper with his golden curls and striking hazel eyes, but he acted just like his father. Even down to his southern drawl. We both took it extremely hard when Jasper finally passed away.

We had already moved from Seattle back to the little small town of Forks when it was clear, we could no longer afford our house on just my salary. Of course, there was the short-term that eventually turned into long-term disability from Jazz's job, but with the mounting medical bills that weren't covered by medical insurance, we ultimately had to move in with my Dad. Sue, being a nurse was a great help. When it became too much commuting back and forth for my job at Seattle General, Dr. Cullen offered me a job at his private practice in Forks. His wife, Miss Esme, owned a preschool, which most of his employee's children attended.

When I arrived at the preschool, Miss Esme escorted me into her office, where Little Jazz was sitting. You could tell he had been crying, but the Melatonin was starting to do its job. Jazz looked like he was ready for a nap. I could also tell there were bruises on the side of his face.

"What happened to his face?" I asked as I picked Jazz up and cradled him to my chest.

"Bella dear, we're so sorry. It seems Jasper has become quite smitten with one of the new students," Miss Esme explained as she gestured to the little girl, I now noticed sitting on the other side of the office her arms crossed over her chest and the most adorable little scowl on her face. My eyebrows almost raised into my hairline as I took in this adorable little girl before looking back down at my son.

"Are you telling me she hurt my son?" I asked.

"Well, it seems Jasper was so smitten with Rosalyn, he asked her to marry him. Rosalyn didn't quite take the proposal all too well. She put Jasper in a headlock before taking him down to the floor," Miss Esme said.

I looked between Rosalyn and my son. She finally harumphed before she spoke.

"Wittle kids aren't 'posed to get marrwied. So I put him in a headwock and took him down!" she said with way too much seriousness, with her little brow furrowed.

"Rosalyn Lillie McCarty! How many times have I told you, you can't put people in headlocks and take them down, just because you don't like what they said?" A deep male voice said from the doorway.

I looked up to see a mountain of a man standing in the doorway. He had a boyishly handsome face with the most striking dimples I'd ever seen. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open and was salivating as he stooped down next to the little girl. She brought her little arms up and wrapped them around the man's huge neck. He brought his big muscle bound arms up and wrapped the little girl up, to where she was almost lost in them.

"I'm sowwy, Daddy," Rosalyn said as she buried her face in her father's neck.

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to," the man told his daughter. She lifted her little blonde head up and looked her father in the eyes. She nodded her head, before getting up and walking over to us. She placed her little chubby hand on the side of my baby's face.

"I'm sowwy, Jashpur," she said before running back over to her father. He had stood up by now and she wrapped her self around his strong muscular leg. He placed a hand on top of her blonde head before walking over to me.

"I'm so very sorry, Mrs…"

"Whitlock, but Bella. Please, call me Bella," I said as I extended my hand.

"Bella, I'm Emmett McCarty, and this is my daughter Rosalyn. I'm so very sorry about my daughter's behavior. She seems to have a problem with anger management since her mom passed away," Emmett confided.

"Well, it seems our children have a lot in common then. Perhaps that's why my son thought it was a good idea to propose marriage to your daughter," I said, trying to make light of the situation. Emmett chuckled a little as he shook his head.

"So you're a widow? Then you understand?" I only nodded my head.

"Well, I'm very sorry for your loss," he said.

"And I yours. She's beautiful, by the way. I can see why my son is smitten," I told him.

"Yes she is, but mean as a rattlesnake, just like her mom," he said with an amused chuckle. It was then, I picked up a light southern twang, yet not quite like Jaspers.

"You're not from here," it wasn't a question.

"No. Gatlinburg, TN. I moved here after my wife passed away. I wanted Rosalyn to be near her grandparents," He said.

"Oh, so your wife was from here? Who was she? Would I have known her?" I asked.

"I don't know? Did you know Rosalie Hale?"

"Rosabitch was your wife?" I slapped my hand over my mouth as soon as the words came out.

"I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean that. I really didn't know her that well…I'm sure she was a very sweet woman when you got to know her," I started back peddling as fast as I could. Emmett only let out a hearty laugh.

"No, it seems like you knew her quite well. That seems to be the sentiment of everyone around here that knew my Rosie. Looks like I was the only one to break through the Ice Queen. Bella, would you like to have coffee with me? I mean, not only do our children have a lot in common, it seems we do as well. I would love to know how you cope with a young child who lost someone that meant the world to them?" I was taken aback. I mean, I'd just insulted his dead wife.

"Umm, sure. But maybe some other time. I need to get this little guy down for a nap. I had Miss Esme give him a dose of Melatonin. I thought he was having another of his panic attacks. I didn't know he'd been attacked by Rhonda Rosey there," I said pointing at Rosalyn.

"Does that really work?" he asked.

"It seems to calm him, when he has trouble sleeping or when he can't seem to calm down on his own. My boss, Dr. Cullen suggested it. I would probably speak with a doctor first," I told him. He seemed to ponder that before nodding. We then fell into an awkward silence. It was then I noticed, Miss Esme had left us alone in the office.

"Well, I'd better get him home," I said as I stood up. Little Jasper was now knocked out, so I put his head on my shoulder as I picked up my purse.

"Maybe I could get your number?" Emmett asked, looking at me hopefully.

"Yeah, sure." He then pulled his phone from his pocket. I rattled off my phone number. Within seconds, I could feel my phone vibrating in my purse.

"Give me a call, about coffee or if you'd just like to talk," He said before grabbing Rosalyn by the hand and walking out the door.

"Yeah, I'll do that," I murmured

**Even my silly post chapter A/N was cut off. This story is going to be short and sweet. I will not be goaded by you people to keep this story going. LOL LOL! Next Chapter will be Emmett' story, then an Epi**


	2. Chapter 2

**BELLA**

I took Little Jazz home and put him down for a nap and immediately went and started dinner. Shit, it's only been a year since my Jasper passed away and six months since my life even began to take on a sense of normalcy.

We were no longer living with my dad. We had a little apartment near the center of town. My Jazzy was always looking out for us, even in his death. He had a substantial life insurance policy, which doubled upon catastrophic death. So after paying off his massive medical bills, Little Jazz and I were able to settle into a somewhat comfortable life.

Was I really ready to start dating again? And did he even really ask me on a date? Maybe I was making way to much out of this than it really was. _Damn it, Bella! Don't start. The guy just asked you out for coffee, for heaven's sake. He just needs someone to talk to. After all, you're both going through the same thing. And don't forget, you insulted his late wife!_

I was so caught up in my musings I didn't even hear Little Jazz come into the kitchen.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." I whipped around to see my little man standing there looking just like his daddy.

"Okay pumpkin. Dinner will be ready soon. How about some ants on a log to tide you over until then?" He nodded his head as he rubbed his eyes sleepily. I tried to keep him away from as many sugary snacks as possible so I always kept fresh fruit and vegetables on hand and celery with peanut butter and raisins were his favorite.

After I made his snack and placed the plate in front of him, I ruffled my fingers through his messy blond curls.

"Baby, why'd you ask Rosalyn to marry you?" While he had Jasper's blond curls and hazel eyes, crooked smile and signature drawl, he had my heart shaped face, button nose and apparent ease of embarrassment. He blushed from the tip of his ears down to this throat.

"I—I—dunno." He said while shaking his head. "I really just wanted her to be my friend. Daddy said Y'all was friends when he axed yah to marry him. I thought that's what yah s'posed to do when you want a pretty girl to be yah friend. Then when yah grow up yah get married," he said as he looked down at his plate. I pretended to place my chin on my hand to hide the laugh that threatened to break through. I picked up my little man and placed him on my lap.

"That's not exactly how it works, pumpkin. But she is really pretty, isn't she?" I said as I placed my chin on top of his head. I could feel his little head nod.

"Well, how about this. What if I asked her daddy if I could take you two to Seattle this weekend? We could go to that Jumporee place you like and then maybe go to a movie?"

"Yah mean like a date?" Little Jazz's face lit up.

"Whoa there, cowboy. More like a playdate." I told him looking into his gorgeous hazel eyes.

"Whatevah, a date's a date. I'll take what I can get." This time, I didn't hold my laughter back. He sounded too much like Jasper then.

**EMMETT**

"Mr. Abernathy?"

"Yes Mr. McCarty, what can I do for you today?"

"I need to take off for a couple of hours. I just got a call from my daughter's preschool. She seems to have gotten into a little trouble. I just need to have someone cover my last three classes. I should be back in time for football practice. I will just drop her off at her grandparent's" I tell the principal, my boss here at Forks High School.

"Of course, Mr. McCarty," he says with a little chuckle. "It seems little Rosalyn is stepping into her mother's shoes quite well around here. Rosalie always was the little hellcat." I seethed at that remark. _GODDAMNIT ROSALIE! _

I just recently took the position here at Forks High School, my now deceased wife's high school alma mater. I'm the new Computer Science teacher and football head coach.

I knew all about Rosie's not so glamorous past and what made her so hated here in Forks. Everyone made it their business to remind me of what a bitch, cold ice queen, Rosalie Hale really was. What nobody seemed to realize, was exactly what turned her into that.

When I met Rosalie all those years ago at Vanderbilt University, I thought she was the most stuck up bitch I'd ever met, yet she was the most beautiful angel I'd ever seen. I was determined to get her to notice me.

I was on a full-ride football scholarship and had been the big man on campus at my high school. Every girl wanted to date me, even a few of the guys but my focus hadn't been on dating at all. I had one goal and one goal only; to get as far away from my fucked up childhood as possible.

You see, It was only my little sister Alice and me and our crackhead mom. Mary-Alice isn't a normal child. She's what's known as a crack baby. My mom was so doped up when she had Alice, she didn't even know she was in labor. That was the first time I had been removed from my mom's custody

I was sent to live with my mom's sister Aunt Vicky and her husband, James. Vicky had a son about my age, named Riley from this black guy named Laurent. They were a couple when she went away to college at Tulane University in New Orleans. I really liked Laurent. When he'd come to pick up Riley for the weekends, he'd always take me with them, just to get me away from James.

"How's it hanging, big man?" Laurent would always say after giving me a fist bump when we were in the car. He'd then start grilling Riley how things were in the house with Vicky and James.

"It's gotten better since Emmett moved in. He doesn't hassle me as much," Riley would tell his dad.

"You know I love you, right little man? I promise I'm trying my best to get you out of there. These things take time though. You believe me, don't you?" Laurent asked Riley.

"Course I do, Daddy. You'd never lie to me. But won't Mama be sad if I leave?"

"Your Mama might be a little sad, but you'll still get to see each other. I'd rather have her sad and you safe," I then saw Laurent look at me through the rear view mirror.

"What about you, big man? Has James done anything to hurt you?" he asked. _Wow! Did he really care?_

"No, sir. When he comes home drunk, he just yells a lot. Then he and Aunt Vicky go in their room and yell some more. Then all I hear is the bed squeakin' and them grunting a lot." Then Riley doubles over laughin'.

"Yeah, they fight then they have make-up sex," Riley says through laughter. Laurent then joins in the laughter.

"That woman never changes," I hear Laurent say under his breath while shaking his head.

Then one weekend, when Laurent took us back home the police and ambulance was outside of our house. James was struggling with a cop that was trying to put him in the police car.

"You boys stay in the car," Laurent said as he got out to go talk to the cops. It was then I saw the paramedics bring my Aunt Vicky out on a stretcher. Her face was bloody and bruised. After a few minutes, Laurent came back to the car.

"Riley, you're going to have to stay with me until we get this whole mess sorted out. Em, why don't you come with me? I'll take you inside and help you get your things together. I'm sorry big man. I tried to get them to let you stay with me, but since I'm not licensed for foster care, they won't let me. They are going to take you to a group home for the night until they can find a more permanent place for you. I'm really sorry."

I never saw Laurent or Riley again after that.

I ended up spending a month in a group home. It seems my mom was trying to get her shit together to get Alice and me back.

And it worked for a while. She got a job and got off drugs. The social worker would come by ever so often to make sure Alice and I were okay. Alice had to go to special doctors. She cried a lot and seemed to be always in pain.

Soon, it got too much for my mom, and again she was back on drugs. By this time Alice was three, and I was ten. This time, we were taken to a foster family together. The Cullens.

The Cullens were really nice. The dad Carlisle, was a doctor, and his wife was this goody-two-shoes homemaker named Esme. They had one son, named Edward. From what I understood, they had only been living in Gatlinburg a few years. All in all, they weren't bad people, and they were able to help Alice, so that's all that mattered.

Over the years, we got along great. As long as I kept up my school work and stayed out of trouble, that's all that mattered.

They came to all my football games like we were a real family. They put up with all of Alice's strange behaviors.

They were very proud of me when I graduated high school, but when I went away to college, I pretty much cut off all communication with them. Then one day, I got a letter from them that they were adopting Alice and moving across the country to the State of Washington. They promised to keep in touch, and if I ever needed them, they'd be there for me no matter what. I was just glad Alice finally had a real home.

I had gotten into a routine at school, with classes, football practice, and games. Whenever I had free time, I usually spent my time in the gym.

It was where I finally met my angel. I'd seen her around campus, and we had a couple of classes together, but she always seemed so stuck up. She had her blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail. She was only wearing a sports bra and yoga pants. She was covered in a gleam of sweat, and she was taking her frustrations out on an MMA dummy. She was muttering to herself with each punch and kick she landed.

"Sure am glad I'm not that guy," I said with a chuckle.

"EAT SHIT!" The angel said as she did a round-about kick to the dummy's head.

"Such foul language from such a pretty mouth," I muttered more to myself. Then next thing I know my six foot seven, two hundred fifty pound ass was flying over her shoulder, and I was laying face first on the mat, with one arm pinned behind my back with the blonde angel sitting straddled my waist.

"Who the fuck are you to tell me how to talk?" the blonde angel said into my ear as she bent herself closer to me while putting more pressure on my arm.

"Angel, you can talk any way you want. It was just an observation. Now, why don't you let me up so I can look into those beautiful eyes of yours and you can cuss me out as much as you want," I told her. I tried to smile and show off the one dimple she may actually be able to see. Usually, they were my best assets and could break down the stoniest of hearts.

After a few more seconds, with a click of her tongue, she let me up. I rubbed my shoulder from where she had my arm pent behind my back.

"Damn, girl! I don't know what I did to piss you off, but remind me never to do it again," I said as I rolled my shoulder to get the kink out.

"I'm Emmett McCarty, by the way," I said as I held out the hand on my good arm, while still rolling my sore shoulder. She looked at my hand as if it were scum, then went right back to beating up the dummy.

"I know who the fuck you are. Just go do your workout and leave me the fuck alone."

"Okay, sorry to bother you, angel. Maybe I'll see you around." I went to pick up my bag and leave when she spoke again. This time the voice was softer.

"Why do you keep calling me an angel?" A smirk played on my face at her words, but I quickly straightened that out before I turned and looked at her.

"Well first, I don't know your name. Second, the first time I saw you in my lit class, I thought you looked like an angel," I told her. I could see her own little smirk playing on her face.

"I'm Rosalie. Sorry about the arm. I hope I didn't damage it any. I know you play football. I hope it won't cause you any trouble in your game," she said as she walked up and place her hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm tough. It'll be okay. That was some pretty fancy moves. How'd you learn that?"

"I'm an MMA fighter," she said rather proudly. "It started out as just self-defense classes. But when my instructor saw how good I was, he thought I should go into competition," I was in awe of this beautiful woman.

"Yeah, that's awesome. So your workouts must be pretty strenuous. How about we go load up on some proteins afterward? I know this joint that sells the best ribs in Tennessee. Maybe sometime you can show me how to do that shoulder throw," she gave me a smile after that. It was gone just as quickly as it came.

"Yeah, but don't think of trying anything with me. I'll kick your ass again. But next time, I'll rip your arm right out of its socket," she said with a scowl. I just held up my hands in surrender.

From that day forward Rosalie Lillian Hale owned my ass.

She would come to my games and I would go to her matches. Over time we got to know each other pretty well.

She told me she was from a little town in Washington state called Forks. I told her that my former foster parent's had just moved there.

When I finally told her about my fucked up childhood and my little sister that had been adopted by my foster parents, she let me in on a secret she'd been holding. It was the reason she acted so tough and why she started taking self-defense classes.

She was a cheerleader at Forks High School, and she'd been dating the football star, Royce King. It was Junior year, and she and Royce had been crowned Homecoming King and Queen. After the game, Royce said he'd take her home if she waited for him to get showered and changed.

She waited inside the gym for him to come out, except he wasn't alone. He was with three of his friends. They pulled her behind the bleachers and was having their way with her when the school janitor found them and called the police.

Royce and his cronies were thrown in jail, but Rosie was never the same after that. She became scared of her own shadow and stopped going to school for the rest of the year. She was homeschooled for the rest of the year, and during the summer, she was sent to Rochester, New York to spend the summer with her cousin Vera, her new husband and baby. It was Vera's husband, who was a cop that suggested she take self-defense classes. He said it would build up her confidence and help her feel less vulnerable.

She said when she returned to Forks the next school year, she was a whole new Rosalie. Her new nickname was Rosabitch. She said she didn't care what people thought about her, as long as they didn't mess with her, she'd be Rosabitch.

Little by little, she let her defense down with me. Soon, we were falling in love with each other. She was my life. After college, I was drafted into the NFL and played for the Tennessee Titans, and Rosie became the next Rhonda Rousey in the MMA world.

A year later, we were married. She was taking six months off from the MMA circuit when she found out she was pregnant with Rosalyn. She was the happiest I'd ever seen her. When my little angel was born, it was like the world stop turning, and the only things that mattered were my two angels.

After Rosalyn was born, Rosalie went right back to training. She was determined to get back into fighting shape.

I quit football after that. I wanted to be there for my angels. We moved to Nashville, and I got a job in the Computer Sciences Department at Vanderbilt since that's what I earned my degree in. I was also hired as an assistant football coach.

Rosalyn loved going to the gym with Rosie. She was doted on by the other fighters and coaches. I'd even seen her and Rosie play fighting in the living room or in Rosalyn's bedroom. Rosie even taught her some moves, that Rosalyn would try out on me. I'd have to pretend to be thrown down and hurt or knocked out. I'd lay on the living room floor with my eyes closed and my angel would come and place her warm little hand on my cheek to make sure I was alright. Then I'd open my eyes grab her, and we'd have a tickle fight.

When Rosalie started losing weight, and her strength and energy started to wain, she made an appointment with the doctor. She was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma.

When the diagnosis came, I called the only people I knew that could possibly make a difference. Dr. and Mrs. Cullen. They flew out immediately.

"Son, I'm so glad you called me. I'm just so sorry it's under these circumstances. I just hoped one day you would see us as a family, just like Alice. But even now, son, we'll help you all we can," Dr. Cullen told me.

I finally introduced my family to the only people who had tried to make a difference in my life. They fell in love with Rosalyn immediately.

Dr. Cullen said he was not an Oncologist, but he knew some of the best in the country. His son, Edward was among those. He and Esme packed us up and moved us to Forks. Edward was a Doctor at Seattle General and did everything he could to help Rosie.

When Rosie finally passed away a year later, I thought my world was shattered, but I had to go on for Rosalyn.

**~~oOo~~**

I stayed in Forks, not only to be close to the people I finally thought of as family, but so the Hale's could still have a piece of Rosalie through Rosalyn.

Rosalyn wasn't coping as well as I'd hoped. She was acting out. While I was sad most of the time, Rosalyn was angry. She was so much like Rosie it wasn't even funny.

Esme thought it would help if she started going to preschool and around other kids. She'd been there for a week and things were going great until today.

I got a call from Esme that she needed me to come to the preschool. It seemed Rosalyn had put a little boy in a headlock because he asked her to marry her. I had to laugh. It was pretty much the same way I'd met Rosie.

"Dear, I think it would be better if you were here when his mother comes to pick him up," Esme told me over the phone.

"Okay, Esme. I'll make an excuse with Mr. Abernathy, then I'll take Rosalyn to the Hales for the rest of the day."

When I walked into Esme's office, I don't know what I expected to find, but this was the third angel I'd ever seen. Rosalie and Rosalyn being the first two.

This angel, however, was different. She had dark hair and the most perfect set of chocolate eyes I'd ever seen. She was cradling a little blond haired boy to her chest. When our eyes met, I swear she was looking right into my soul.

"Wittle kids aren't 'posed to get marrwied. So I put him in a headwock and took him down!" My daughter said with her arms crossed over her chest and her mother's signature scowl on her face. I had to stifle a laugh.

"Rosalyn Lillie McCarty! How many times have I told you, you can't put people in headlocks and take them down, just because you don't like what they said?" I'd seen her do it one too many times to her cousins and have had to make her sit in a corner as punishment. I didn't know what to do for a child that was acting out because she's lost her mother. Part of it I knew she was acting out, but it was also just because she had that fighting spirit, just like Rosalie.

"I'm sowwy, Daddy," Rosalyn said as she buried her face in my neck while putting her little arms around me.

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to." When she lifted her little head and her sad eyes met mine, I knew she was indeed sorry. She nodded her head and got up and walked over to the woman and her son. It was then I saw the red mark and bruise that was forming on his face.

"I'm sowwy, Jashpur," she said as she placed her small hand on the boy's face where she left the mark. She then ran back to me and wrapped herself around my leg. I placed a hand on her head to urge her forward as I walked to where the woman was sitting.

"I'm so very sorry, Mrs…"

"Whitlock, but Bella. Please, call me Bella," she extended her hand. I took her proffered hand for a shake.

"Bella, I'm Emmett McCarty, and this is my daughter Rosalyn. I'm so very sorry about my daughter's behavior. She seems to have a problem with anger management since her mom passed away," I confided in her.

"Well, it seems our children have a lot in common then. Perhaps that's why my son thought it was a good idea to propose marriage to your daughter," I was glad she was making light of the situation. This could have gone terribly wrong if she went all tiger mom on me.

"So you're a widow? Then you understand?" She nodded. It was then I saw the sadness in her eyes.

"Well, I'm very sorry for your loss," I said.

"And I yours. She's beautiful, by the way. I can see why my son is smitten," She said and I smiled warmly at her before looking down at my daughter.

"Yes she is, but mean as a rattlesnake, just like her mom," I said as I thought back on my first encounter with Rosalie

"You're not from here," it wasn't a question. She obviously picked up my southern drawl

"No. Gatlinburg, TN. I moved here after my wife passed away. I wanted Rosalyn to be near her grandparents," I told her.

"Oh, so your wife was from here? Who was she? Would I have known her?" she asked

"I don't know? Did you know Rosalie Hale?"

"Rosabitch was your wife?" She slapped her hand over her mouth as soon as the words came out. Obviously embarrassed with her verbal diarrhea.

"I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. I didn't mean that. I really didn't know her that well…I'm sure she was a lovely woman when you got to know her," She started back peddling and was sinking fast. I decided to put her out of her misery by giving her a huge laugh.

"No, it seems like you knew her quite well. That seems to be the sentiment of everyone around here that knew my Rosie. Looks like I was the only one to break through the Ice Queen. Bella, would you like to have coffee with me? I mean, not only do our children have a lot in common, it seems we do as well. I would love to know how you cope with a young child who lost someone that meant the world to them?" I have no idea where that came from. I just knew I had to do something to let her know there were no hard feelings. It was obvious, her son had good taste if he liked my daughter enough to propose marriage, and what better way to keep an eye on that blond haired little devil.

"Umm, sure. But maybe some other time. I need to get this little guy down for a nap. I had Miss Esme give him a dose of Melatonin. I thought he was having another of his panic attacks. I didn't know he'd been attacked by Rhonda Rosey there," she said pointing at Rosalyn. My smile grew even brighter, the fact she was aware of the fighter.

"Does that really work?" I asked.

"It seems to calm him, when he has trouble sleeping or when he can't seem to calm down on his own. My boss, Dr. Cullen suggested it. I would probably speak with a doctor first," So, she knew Carlisle and Esme. I pondered that for a moment. I wonder if she knew we were family. I'd have to ask her about that later. She was getting up and putting her son on her shoulder

"Well, I'd better get him home," She said as she stood up. Her little guy was knocked out

"Maybe I could get your number?" I asked quickly before she left.

"Yeah, sure." I pulled my phone from my pocket as she rattled off her number. I hit send so my number would come up on her phone. Also to make sure she wasn't giving me a fake number. When I heard her phone vibrate in her purse, I gave her another warm smile.

"Give me a call, about coffee or if you'd just like to talk," I said before grabbing Rosalyn's hand and leading her out the door.

"Yeah, I'll do that," I heard her mumble.

Once I got Rosalyn strapped into the car seat, I drove her to her grandparent's house.

"Do you not like that little boy, Rosalyn? Did he do something to you?" I asked thinking about why Rosie started MMA fighting in the first place.

"I like Jashpur, Daddy. He's my friend. He shared his cookies with me," she told me. I furrowed my brow.

"So why did you put him in a headlock?"

"CUSH, DADDY! He said cush we were friends we had to get marrwied. I don't want to get marrwied. Cush then I'd have to leave you all alone and I don't want you to be sad," I looked through the rearview mirror as she said this. Her little scowl was back.

"Baby, is that why you fight? Because you think I'm sad?

"Yesh Daddy, I know you're sad cush mommy went to heaven. I don't want anybody to make you sad," she said. I could see the tears falling down her little plump cheeks.

Once we pulled up to Lilian and Rogers house, I took my baby from her car seat and brought her to my chest.

"Baby, it's not your job to protect me. It's my job to protect you. Do you understand?" I said as I kissed her soft downy head.

"No, daddy. We have to 'potect' each other so we won't be sad," she said as she squeezed herself to me even tighter.

After I dropped Roslyn off, I made my way back to the school. I couldn't stop thinking about Rosalyn, Bella and her little boy, Jasper.

I don't know which of us has it worse, Bella dealing with Jasper's panic attacks, or Rosalyn and her physical attacks?

For some reason, I just couldn't get Bella out of my head. She was so different than Rosalie, yet she was a very stunning woman.

While Rosalie was in your face, hard and mean, though not with me, Bella was soft and sweet. I knew I wanted to know her better.

After work, I was taking Rosalyn over to the Cullens for dinner. Alice loved the times she got to spend with Rosalyn. I think Alice thinks of her as her own personal Barbie doll.

After we were there for a while, Edward came in with his pregnant wife, Tanya. "I heard you met Mrs. Whitlock and her son, Little Jazz," Edward said with a mischievous smile.

"So you know her?" I asked.

"Yeah, she a sweet girl. She worked at the hospital for a while. I also knew her late husband. He worked in the psychology department. I also treated him. He had a rare form of brain cancer. The loss was really hard on her, as I'm sure you can understand," I nodded at that.

"I was thinking of asking her out. I'm just not sure if it's too soon, for either of us, ya know?" Carlisle came in at that time.

"Son, I actually think it's a great idea. After what the both of you have gone through, I think it'd be nice to have someone to talk to. You both can lean on each other," Carlisle told me.

After we had dinner, and we said goodnight, Rosalyn and I made our way home. Once I'd put my little angel to bed, I walked around and looked at all of Rosalie's trophies and belts. I then went to my room and looked at Bella's number in my phone. My thumb hovered over the call button. When it started to ring in my hand, it scared the shit out of me. I actually threw it up in the air, and it fell between the headboard and mattress.

By the time I was able to fish it out from behind the bed, it had stopped ringing, and there was a voicemail. I listened to the voicemail.

"Hi, umm. This is Bella Whitlock. This is crazy but here goes. I was wondering if you'd like to come and bring your daughter for a day in Seattle on Saturday. Jazz likes this place called Jumporee. It's like wall to wall trampolines and they have rock climbing and stuff like that. We could meet there if you'd like. It would give us a chance to talk while the kids played. Then I thought maybe we could take them to a movie and then out for pizza. Umm yeah, call me back if you think it's a good idea. Again this is Bella Whitlock, you know…from the preschool. _Damnit, Bella! This is so stupid." _ I heard her mutter just before she hung up. This brought a genuine smile to my face for the first time in a long time. I called her back right away. She sounded nervous when she answered the phone.

"Hi Bella, it's Emmett. I think the playdate is a great idea, but how about I pick you guys up?"

"Umm yeah, but how about we don't call it a playdate. When I mentioned it to Jazz his response was Whatevah, a date's a date and he'd take what he can get," she said. I chuckled at that.

"Do I have anything to worry about with your son and my daughter?" I asked jokingly.

"No, at least I don't think so. He said his Dad told him we were friends before we got married, so he thinks he supposed to ask a pretty girl to marry him so they can be friends." I laughed again.

"I kinda like the kid's logic. So following his logic, Bella Whitlock, will you marry me?" I said, and for some reason, I felt like I was only half joking. For the second time in my life, a woman had totally captured my heart.

"Umm, can I think about it?" Was her reply. My heart soared that it wasn't an outright no. Although I knew she was joking.

"Sure, Mrs. Whitlock. But let's make sure our kids really do get along before you answer," I said with a chuckle.

"What time should I pick you up on Saturday?"

"How does eleven sound?"

"It's a date, or playdate…oh hell, see ya on Saturday," she giggled and hung up the phone.

* * *

**OKAAAAY! So maybe one more before the epi!**


	3. Chapter 3

**EMMETT POV**

The week seemed so long, I couldn't wait to see Bella Whitlock again. Somehow, I'd always just missed her when she dropped off Little Jasper at pre-school. But Jazz was always there waiting for my Rosalyn. He would grab her hand and they would run off to play.

Finally, Friday night arrived and I was at an away game with the team when I received a text from Bella.

_Emmett, just checking if we're still on for tomorrow. Jasper is so excited, I'd really hate to disappoint him- Bella._

I couldn't reply right away, so as soon as there was a break in the game, I replied.

_I wouldn't dream of disappointing the little guy or you. Just text me your address, and we will be there. How about we all stop for breakfast first. If I don't respond immediately, I'm at an away game and will reply when I can-Em_

The game was back in play when I felt my phone vibrate with a text notification. I had to keep my head in the game and on my players. As soon as we were going to the locker room for half-time, I pulled out my phone.

_Oh Em, that sounds wonderful, but how about I make us all breakfast instead? I can make pancakes. Any allergies I need to know about? So see you around 9 am then?-Bella_

My excitement shot through the roof. A woman that can cook. I loved my Rosie with everything in me, but the woman was a disaster in the kitchen. I was no Master chef, but I did well enough to keep us fed and my angels healthy, as much as I hated cooking.

The next text was of her address and I smiled again.

_No allergies, we eat it all. 9 am is perfect Until then have a good night-EM_

The ride back on the team bus was a little disappointing from everyone, as we lost by a field goal, but you would never be able to tell it by me. I was on cloud nine.

When I got back to the house, of course, Rosalyn was sound asleep. I kissed Lillian on the cheek and thanked her for watching Rosalyn.

"Dear boy, you never have to thank me for watching that little angel. I'm always grateful to have the time with her. Will you two be over for breakfast?" Lillian asked.

"Um, no. I'm sorry I should have told you. Rosalyn has a play date for tomorrow with the boy she had the altercation with at pre-school. It's an all-day thing, starting with breakfast," I told her.

"Oh, dear. Is that a good idea?" Lillian asked.

"Yeah, all's good. They're actually best friends." Lillian's eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Well then. You two have fun," she said before walking out to the car. Roger was at all of our games and was waiting for Lillian in the car.

I could barely sleep that night, due to the excitement of seeing Bella again.

Apparently, I eventually drifted off to sleep because I was awakened the next morning by my angel in her pink nightgown bouncing on my bed.

"JESUS H. CHRIST, Ros! Can we reserve the bouncing for the trampolines?" Rosalyn giggled.

"Yesh, daddy," She said, giggling again. "Breakfast, breakfast, breakfast!" she said pushing on my shoulder. I turned over groaning and looked at my beautiful smiling angel.

"Tell you what. How about you give daddy five more minutes and then we'll head to Miss Bella and Jaspers house. Miss Bella is making pancakes," I told her. Her eyes went wide.

"Jashpur's mom can cook?" I couldn't hold back my laughter.

"My sentiment's exactly sweetpea," I said as I kissed her on the forehead. She settled down and curled up next to me. Her little warm body next to mine was always soothing. It had to have only been a minute when Rosalyn tapped me on the shoulder.

"Ish it five minutes yet, Daddy?" I let out a long sigh and sat up wiping my eyes with the heels of my hands.

"Of course it is, sweetpea." _What the hell was I thinking? _ I got up, threw Rosalyn over my shoulder. She giggled all the way to her room.

"Do you know what you'd like to wear today?" I asked her. I always gave her a choice. To my surprise, she was much better at picking out outfits than I was. She pulled out a pair of black leggings, a pink t-shirt, merchandising from Rosies MMA days, a pink tutu and her black Chucks.

After taking her to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and washing her face, I got out the comb, brush, mousse and dust buster. After first brushing and combing out the tangles, I put the hair tie on the hose of the dust buster and turned it on. When all of her blonde curls were sucked into the hose, I pushed the hair tie down to hold the ponytail in place. I then put a dollop of mousse in my hand and smoothed it around the ponytail to keep the flyaways in place. Rosalyn then went to her hair thingy box and pulled out a fancy scrunchie thingy and I added it to her ponytail. Perfect.

After going back to the bedroom and getting Rosalyn dressed, now it was my turn. What the hell was I going to wear? I didn't want to be too casual, but I also didn't want Bella to think I was trying too hard. What if she didn't see me that way? I'd never tried to impress a woman before. Finally, I decided in my best pair of jeans, my Forks H.S. polo pull-over, a pair of white Air Force Ones and a Nike fitted cap, turned to the back.

I packed Ros her 'accidents happen' bag, picked up my little angel, got her buckled in her car seat and we were off.

Bella's apartment was easy to find. It was a small place, a quadplex actually. Her apartment was on the ground floor. As soon as I walked up to the door the smell of bacon was wafting out.

As soon as I knocked on the door, I could hear Jazz's excited little voice in his southern twang.

"Ros is here! Ros is here!" he said as I heard little footsteps heading towards the door. The little blond headed boy threw the door open. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans, a striped rugby shirt and my man was also sporting a pair of white Air Force Ones. He tugged Rosalyn's hand and they ran off to only God knows where. I was left standing there at the front door.

"Jazz, where's Em?" I heard Bella's voice from somewhere in the apartment. Then she stepped to the door. Her hair was up in a messy bun. She had on a pair of stretch pants. Her feet were bare and she had a smudge of what could only be pancake batter on her cheek. But Holy Toledo, she was beautiful.

"I'm sorry, we kind of got a late start…" and then she stopped and stood there, mouth agape taking me in. She was broken away from eye fucking me by little Jazz's voice.

"Momma is breakfast ready, I'm starved," that seemed to snap her out of it.

"Um, yeah. Sorry, Emmett. Please, come in. Everything is on the table. Go ahead help yourself," and then she bolted from the door. I walked in and closed the door. I gave an inward chuckle before finding my way to where the kids were.

**BELLA POV**

OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Was he always that handsome? How is this the first I've noticed? And the muscles on that man! My Jazz had muscles, but Jesus H. Christ!

Here, I'm looking like some homeless reject and this man. No, this Greek God! Hercules in the flesh is standing at my door looking like some hip-hop runway model. Oh yeah, I can see how he and Rosabitch were evenly matched.

"Okay, just calm down, Bella. This is just a playdate for the kids. No big deal." I walked into the bathroom and shrieked when I saw myself in the mirror.

I quickly pulled my hair down from the messy bun and brushed it out. Thank God I washed it last night. I then washed my face. He must think I'm an idiot with pancake batter all over my face. I quickly lined my eyes, threw on some mascara and some lip gloss. I then ran to the bedroom and jumped into a pair of skinny jeans, a nice button up blouse and some ballet flats and ran out to the eat-in kitchen.

There he was, helping the kids put food on their plates and cutting up sausage for Rosalyn. He smiled when he saw me and the dimples on that man made me want to lick them.

"Um, I found milk for the kids, but I wasn't sure what you wanted to drink. I saw there was coffee but didn't know if you wanted juice." I then saw the plate with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage with a cup of coffee sitting next to it. He then took off his turned back cap, placing it in the small of his back before coming over to me and taking my hand, leading me to my chair. I wanted to run my hands through his brown curls, they looked so soft, but I resisted.

"Thank you, coffee is fine," I told him. He smiled before taking a seat next to Rosalyn and making a plate for himself. Suddenly I was hoping I made enough. He was a big man, and he made a big plate.

"Umm, I hope you didn't have trouble finding the place," I was at a loss as to what to say.

"Nope, easy peasy," He then took a bite of his pancakes and his eyes rolled back.

"God, Bella. These pancakes are fantastic. These aren't the instant box mix, I can tell."

"Um no, I make them from scratch. I actually make up a dry mix and keep on the shelf. I could make you a batch to take home if you want? I just add milk, butter, and an egg and the batter is done." He smiled.

"Whata ya say, Ros? Better than Grandma Lillian's?"

"Yep, gammy cake-cakes are bwack and yucky!" Rosalyn said turning up her little button nose.

"Ya think we could get out of breakfast every Saturday with Gammy and have breakfast with Miss Bella and Jazz from now on?"

"Yash, please, Daddy."

"Well, looks like the boss has spoken. Whata ya say, Miss Bella, PLEEEEASE," Emmett said giving me his most innocent face, flashing those gorgeous dimples and batting his eyelashes. Rosalyn took up the rear with the pleading, followed by little Jazz. My dreaded blush took over.

"Okay, well looks like we have a standing Saturday morning breakfast date," I told them giving a little giggle. Em and Little Jazz gave me simultaneous fist pumps and I couldn't help but laugh.

After breakfast, Emmett helped me clean up the kitchen. Rinsing the plates and loading them into the dishwasher, while I put away everything. He seemed so at ease with everything.

We were soon ready to hit the road to Seattle. He took the car seat out of my car for Jazz and installed it in the back of his Range Rover. It was big. No wonder he wanted to drive. It would have been a tight fit, the four of us in my Rav 4. He then handed each of the kid's earphones. When we got in, he popped a DVD into the built-in player. They were watching Brave while we talked.

He told me a lot about his childhood and how he met Rosalie. His football career and her MMA career. I had a new found respect for her, after hearing what she went through.

I told him how I was in a similar situation when I met my Jazz and how he saved me from that devastation.

"Then I'll have to remember to send up my thanks to him. You were both lucky," I didn't know what to say. I reached over the console and grabbed his hand. He took his eyes off the road briefly to look at our joined hands. He then brought my hand to his lips for a light kiss, but he never let my hand go. My hand felt so small in his huge hand but also felt so right.


	4. Chapter 4

**This story is dedicated to my mom, Betty Royalston-Scott. She told me how proud she was of me and my writing even though she hasn't read any of my stories. She says there is too much blatant smut. So, unfortunately, this story will be Lemon-less :( and minimal bad language.**

* * *

**BELLA POV**

This is the second time in my life a man has sparked something in me. I sat back and watched him interact with his daughter and my son.

He climbed on the trampolines with them. They used the small kid's section that was surrounded by safety nets.

Emmett then took Rosalyn over so she could climb the rock wall. He asked Jazz if he would like to come too. Jazz rocked on his feet for a while as he looked at the rock wall, then looked at the ground as he shook his head no.

After they left, I asked Jazz if he was sure.

"Yeah, Mama. I know you don't like it. It's fine. He sat and watched Rosalyn in astonishment as she climbed just above Emmett's head. Which, when you think about it, it was pretty high for a three-year-old. The guy had to be at least 6'6".

Jazz then asked if he could go on the rock wall. I'm afraid of heights and just watching my baby climb, no matter how secure the staff makes it with the harnesses sends me on edge. Emmett obviously saw the hesitation in my face.

"You and Ros just sit there and watch us, I'll make sure nothing happens to the little man," Emmett assured me.

I'd always told Jazz no when he asked to go on the rock wall. Now that I look back on it, I may have instilled my fears into my son. So when he and Emmett went over to the wall, I could see Jazz was intimidated, after all this was his first time.

Emmett got down on his knees to Jazz's level seeming to give him a pep talk. The next thing I saw was Em picking Jazz up and placing him on his back while still in harness and climbing the wall with him while Jazz's little arm was clinging around his neck. When they came back down and Jazz was unharnessed, Jazz ran over to me.

"MAMA! DID YA SEE ME? DID YA SEE ME GO ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP? IT WAS AWESOME!"

"Yes baby, I saw you and you were awesome. Were you scared?"

"Yeah, mama at first, but Mr. Emmett told me that everyone gets scared sometimes. And it's okay to be scared, but sometimes you have to look your fears in the face. And that's what I did mama. Can me and Ros go to the ball pit now?"

Yes, baby, but to the little kids one. You two go have fun. Just be careful and look out for Rosalyn."

"We will, c'mon Ros," Jazz said. He was so excited. He grabbed Rosalyn's hand and they went running off to the ball pit.

"Stop, running! Be careful!" I yelled after them. It warmed my heart to see Jasper so happy again.

After Emmett removed his harness, he went and got us a couple of coffees and brought them over. We finally had some time where we could just sit an talk.

"You are so great with him. I know he misses having his daddy around to do stuff like this. I can only do so much, you know?"

"Well, Bella, he's a great kid. But I know what you mean. Ros misses her mom. And even though she has her grandmothers and her aunts, it's not the same as having someone right there when she wakes up. But she's tough, like her mom. She gets angry because I've been so sad and she doesn't want to see me sad." And I could see the sadness in his eyes. I wanted to do anything I could to make that sadness disappear. I got up and went around the picnic style bench table to sit next to him. I placed an arm around his thick back and squeezed before laying my head on his shoulder. He returned the gesture by placing his arm around my waist and pulling me closer to him.

"You know, you've done nothing but sit here in this spot since we've been here. Let's go have some fun. I brought my head up to look at him, furrowing my brows at what he meant. He had this mischievous smirk on his face and a playful gleam in his eyes.

The next thing I know, he had me hauled over his shoulder.

"Em? What are you doing?" He just laughed a boisterous laugh.

"Emmett? Where are you taking me?" Then he reached up and took my shoes off and the next thing I know, I'm flying and landing in the ball pit.

"Ready or not, here I come," And just like that, Emmett was doing a cannonball into the ball pit. Balls went flying everywhere. Thank God they were the soft nerf balls and there were no kids around. This was a different ball pit. This was a bigger one for older kids. All of the older kids were on the trampolines or on the rock wall.

"Hold on. Don't go anywhere, I'll be right back," He said before climbing out of the pit. After a few minutes, he was back, carrying our kids like they were two sacks of potatoes under each arm. He threw Jazz in first followed by Rosalyn, both of them giggling as they landed before he jumped in.

"I've always wanted to do that," Emmett said with his boisterous laughter again. He was like a big kid. So full of life. It made me smile and laugh. Something I hadn't done in a very long time. I loved Jasper with everything I was and even though we had our fun, Jasper was always so serious.

I would throw an occasional ball at them and laugh as he tossed them around in the balls and let them pretend to attack him.

"We need to capture the fair Maiden, Mama," He said with an evil cackle as he turned towards me after I landed a ball square in the middle of his forehead. My eyes widened as the three evil beings turned their attack on me. I started laughing and wading through the balls to get away from them. They were growling like angry bears trying to get to me. The pit was only knee deep for Emmett and waist deep for me, so he had to keep the two mini bears from sinking to the bottom with his arm around their waists.

When they finally caught up to me, Jazz attacked me by putting his arms around my neck from the back and little Ros around my waist from the front.

"Very good, evil minions, You've captured the fair maiden for me. Now it's time to take her back to our lair and force feed her pizza and soda," Emmett said with another evil laugh. He then picked me up bridal style.

"Hold on, to my arms, evil minions until we're free from the quicksand pit," Emmett told them. They both latched on to each arm as he waded us towards the exit

"Yes, Gru, we are your minions we will follow you," Jazz played along in character trying to give the squeaky voice like the minions.

"He's not Gru, he's my daddy," Rosalyn said with a little scowl.

"Its just pretends, Ros. You know, like Despicable Me," Jazz told her.

"Oh, okay. I like the minions. But, I don't wanna be a minion. I wanna be Agnes," Rosalyn told them. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Okay, you can be Agnes, but I'm still a minion," Jazz announced. Once we exited the pit, the kids were in socked feet so they went running off back to the little kid's ball pit to retrieve their shoes. Em stopped us at the cubby hole where our shoes were.

"You know, that was a little disgusting, I was barefoot in there," I told him. He ducked his head.

"I know, I wasn't thinking about you not wearing socks," he said as he carried me over to our table. He then went through what could only be described as the manliest diaper bag I've ever seen. It was more like a backpack really, but he had a change of clothes for Rosalyn. A set of underwear and pull-ups, baby wipes and hand sanitizer. He took out the baby wipes and the hand sanitizer. He squirted a little hand sanitizer on the baby wipe and cleaned my feet. He even cleaned in between my toes and I started giggling.

"Have I already found a tickle spot?" He asked as he started playing with my toes."

"Emmett, stop! Don't!" I said laughing as I tried to pull my foot away

"Okay, Okay. Only 'cause I don't want to make you pee yourself. I didn't bring my 'accidents happen bag' for mama's." I smiled at him again. After he finished cleaning my feet, he placed my shoes back on. After cleaning his hands with another wipe he looked up into my eyes. He then brought his hand up and caressed my cheek.

"You have the most beautiful smile," we just sat there looking into the eyes of each other. We were broken out of our eye gaze by the children approaching us.

"You know Ros, if your dad marries my mama, I won't have to marry you anymore. You'll get to be my sister, then I can keep you forever and ever."

"I like that. I always wanted a big brother. So will you be my big brother, Jashpur? Can I call her Mama, too?"

"Sure, If I can call him, Daddy. Do you think we should ask them if they can get married so we can be brother and sister?"

"Nah, let'em figure it out on their own," Rosalyn told Jazz.

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**Okay, guys. for the remainder of this story, Emmett and Bella will be based on very talented Cartoon artists from Isreal, Yehuda and Maya Devir and their comic strip One of those days. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out at yehuda devir dot com.(just remove the spaces and put an actual period for the word dot) When I first saw it, I immediately thought of Emmett and Bella. I wanted to write a fanfiction based on it but decided to include it in this story. Hope you will enjoy.**


	5. Epilogue

**I did enjoy writing this, and I'm thinking about maybe a sequel, Happy Wife, Happy Life. More of the exploits of Yehuda and Maya in the form of Emmett and Bella and their new little addition. But don't hold me to it. You know I have so many other stories to complete. Thank you for all the reviews favs and this story is even in a community. I love you guys and until next time, Here's the final chapter.**

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_**FIVE YEARS LATER**_

**EMMETT'S POV**

Well, it's been five years since that first playdate. And as Rosalyn said, Bella and I did figure it out on our own. But the hint from the kids got us kick started in the right direction.

Hmmm, where should I start?

Well, maybe I should tell y'all about our newest little addition to our family, Jazmyn. It was a lot of hard work getting her here, but we'll get into that a little later.

There were a lot of changes in our family dynamic when we let the rest of our extended family in on the fact that Bella and I were now dating.

While Roger, Rosie's dad was happy I was able to move on, Lillian was fit to be tied. She accused me of never really loving her daughter, if I could move on from her so suddenly. She even threatened to fight me for custody of Rosalyn.

I shut that down quick. I told her she could try. I wasn't exactly that poor man anymore who first met her daughter all those years ago in college. The years I played pro ball, I'd done well for myself and I had quite a few nice investments. Not to mention the five million dollars I received from Rosalie's life insurance policy. I also reminded her that I split the actual ten million dollar policy with them, something I didn't have to do. And if she continued with this, when they lost, not only would they never see Rosalyn again, but I would sue her for deformation of character in the exact amount of five million dollars and leave them penniless. Let's just say that shut her up, and slowly but surely she warmed up to Bella. She also took quite a liking to Little Jazz and now boasts about her three grandchildren.

Bella's brother and sister-in-law, Peter and Charlotte Whitlock, along with her dad Chief Swan were all for the relationship. Peter and Charlie were in awe of the fact that Bella was now dating a former Heisman trophy winner, a first-round draft pick and former tackle for the Tennessee Titans. Bella wasn't into sports so all of that flew right over her head. But she tried.

She begged me to stay home with her when I wanted to go to a super bowl party. She got all the snacks and stuff ready for the game. She was even dressed in the cutest little cheerleader outfit and had her hair done up in pigtails. It was too cute when she asked me to tell her when to cheer for the right team. Let's just say I couldn't tell ya who won that game.

Other things changed in our lives too. When Bella asked if I enjoyed teaching, I told her not really. While I liked it, and it gave me a way to stay in football, my real passion was in computer graphic, web design, and the likes. Really, I was a big computer geek and was really into video games.

I even showed her the video game I designed that was more of a learning game for Rosalyn. She told me how awesome it was and Little Jazz even got into the game. He and Ros would play at it for hours. She told me I should market the game to some of the big-name gaming companies.

After thinking about it, I thought, why the hell not. So during summer break from school, we took a trip to California, the Silicone Valley area and I marketed the game to Google as an app. They loved it and wanted to hire me inhouse to work on graphic design. When I told them I wasn't interested in moving to California, they still offered me the job saying that this was something that could be done from home.

So now, I'm a work at home dad for one of the biggest tech companies in the world. I still coach football, but now, I'm a pop-warner league coach, and Little Jazz is my star player.

And who knew, Bella was a fantastic artist? So now, we work as a team. She does the artwork, and I take her art and bring it to life with my computer graphics.

During that little trip to California, Edward and Tanya, and their little beanie babies came with us. We traded off times with each other's kids to have alone time with our partners.

Our first night alone, Bella thought it would be fun to take a bubble bath and unwind with a bottle of wine. Can I just say, that hotel wasn't the right place for this? We weren't staying at one of those hotels with the huge garden tubs, so while Bella lounged in luxurious bubbles, my six foot seven ass was crammed tight as a sardine in a can in that tiny bathtub, holding what must have been the smallest glass of wine ever.

I didn't even get any that night. Who knew Bella was such a lightweight when it came to alcohol. I ended up hauling her drunk butt out of the tub and putting her to bed.

"How in the world did you get so drunk? You only had one glass," I asked her as I fireman's carried her wet ass to the bedroom.

"Well, it was a goooood one," she giggled and then slurred.

So back to life at home. To say things have taken a lot of getting used to would be an understatement. Let's start with Bella's hair. My God, the woman has a lot of it, and she brushes it to death. It's long, down to her waist and thick and I find it everywhere. I swear, I'm picking up strands of hair off everything The minute I think I've gotten everything clean, I'm picking up another strand of hair. And we're not going to even talk about the creature I found growing in our shower drain, that I swear attacked my feet and was crawling up my leg.

When I suggested getting a haircut, she went along with it at first. But then I came home from little league practice with Jazz and we found her laying on the floor in the fetal position with her head in Ros's lap bawling like a baby.

"What's wrong with her?" Jazz asked me. I just hunched my shoulders, went over to her, picked her up and sat with her curled in my lap.

"What's wrong, babe? Your hair looks great by the way?" That sent a fresh flow of tears and more wailing.

"I'm BALLLLLLLLLLLD!" I just rolled my eyes, though I didn't let her see that.

"Honey, I hardly think you're bald. Besides baby, the cut looks great, and it's only hair. It will grow back." _I could only hope slowly and with less shedding. Honestly, is she a woman or an Alaskan Huskey._

"You—you really think it looks good?" she said through sniffles.

"I told mama it looks good, but she didn't believe me," Ros told me, hunching her shoulders as she passed by us.

"I know sweetpea. It's just gonna take her some time to get used to it," I told my little angel. I just sat there with Bella cuddled up in my lap until she calmed down, continuing to tell her how beautiful she looked.

Oh, let's see. There was the time I decided I was going to join my hot wife in the shower for a little shower sex. And when I say hot—let's just say the woman's skin must be made out of Teflon. The moment I stepped under our new rain shower head, I swear my head caught fire, and I had third degree burns to my shoulder.

Then there was the time that each of us had a round of the flu that was going through our town. Bella is a work-a-holic if not anything else. I had to literally carry her away from our studio with her clutching used tissues, one stuck up her nose and snotty ones stuck to me.

"Put me down, I can work," Bella wheezed as I carried her off to bed. I just chuckled.

"Sure you can, babe. But not today," I told her as I kissed her feverish forehead.

Of course, when I came down with the flu a few days later, I was the biggest baby you've ever seen.

"The fever is only one hundred and one. Walk it off," Bella told me as she sat cradling me on the sofa.

But we got through all of that. For a while, we were still shuffling back and forth between our two places. Until I finally got up the nerve, with the help of our two meddling busybodies, to pop the big question.

"YEEESSSS!" came from Bella, before I could even get out 'Will you'. We then decided it was the right time to move in together. Or I should say, I moved the remainder of Bella's things into my home. Even though we weren't officially living together, more of her and Little Jazz's things were at my house than their own apartment. Just now, it was public knowledge.

We had a not so big wedding, given this was both of our second marriage. Peter and Charlotte and Edward and Tanya were in our wedding. Alice was a junior bridesmaid, Little Jazz the ring bearer and Rosalyn was our flower girl. I finally met her mother, Renée and her husband Phil. Phil and I had a lot in common, him being a former pro baseball player and me a former football player. He was a pretty cool dude.

It was about a year later, I finally begin to hear Bella's biological clock ticking. I swear, even though Bella won't admit it, she was cradling my arm like a baby. I could see that longing in her eyes every time she saw someone holding a little baby.

It was a lot of hard work. There were times I thought it would never happen. We went to a fertility specialist. Bella had to practically drag me kicking and screaming. I hate needles. And all the blood draws and sperm testing was a bit much.

"Make it stop!" I yelled as Bella practically had to carry me to get the tests done.

Then there were the non-stop drills, that Bella aptly named, 'Operation Ovulation'. The ovulation test that was promptly followed by the non-stop sexual exploits in every position Bella and I could think up and even a few she found in a Kama Sutra book.

There were the battles with the 'period monster' that sent Bella into fits of crying. Not to mention the hormone injections. Plus there was the time she got into juicing and everything in our fridge was replaced with fruit and vegetable. Then what I called the 'baby potions', smoothies loaded with all kinds of stuff, supposedly to help conception.

Finally, we did it. When she showed me that pee stick with that plus sign, we both bawled like babies.

This wasn't our first rodeo, we both knew what to expect. Well, I sorta did. I wasn't around for a lot of Rosie's pregnancy as I was still in my football career. But Bella was much different. Rosie was all about fitness as she was adamant about maintaining her MMA body after the baby was born.

Bella, on the other hand, stuffed any and everything in her face. And salt. I'd have to wrestle the salt shaker away from her.

Of course, there were the other fun time and not so fun times. Like when Bella would be sitting on a mountain of clothes and swear she had nothing to wear. The car Karaoke. The mountain of gifts I'd buy for her birthday and she'd seduce me, show me her tits and I was good as gold for mine.

Bella's ever-changing body was, of course, the sexiest thing I'd ever seen. We were in the middle of moving into our new bigger house, when Bella's water broke.

Jazz and Rosalyn both were hoping for a new little brother. Jazz was finally learning it wasn't all fun and games living in a house full of women. And Rosalyn I think just wanted to be the baby girl of the family.

But after sixteen hours of labor. Little Jazmyn Rosalie McCarty came into this world. We thought it only appropriate to pay tribute to the two people, who in their own way, brought our family together. While Little Jasper was nearly the spitting image of his father and Rosalyn was so much like her mom it was scary; Jazmyn was a perfect mixture of both of us. Her heart-shaped face and my dark curly hair. Bella bow-shaped lips, and my chubby cheeks, Jazmyn was God's perfect blend of us.

While to others, it may seem like just 'one of those days', to us it was our happy life and showed us, you never know what will come from the mouths of babes.

The End.

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**This one was for you, Mommy. I hope you enjoyed it**


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